The invention relates to a gathered planting net for the cultivation of flower bulbs, especially tulips, narcissi and the like, with a carrier lying flat in the transport state and a tubular net provided thereon, which is held on the carrier with at least one closing band. In the gathered planting net of the present invention, the closing band penetrates the interior of the tubular net and of the carrier in the direction of an axis of the tubular net and also extends over the outside of the tubular net.
For the cultivation of flower bulbs, especially tulips, narcissi, irises and the like, it is well known to put the bulbs into the earth for their cultivation, or more specifically, their reproduction. After a certain growth period the flower is cut off, so that the bulb will grow stronger or reproduce through the formation of neighboring bulbs during the extended growth period.
For putting the bulbs into the earth it is known to use a planting net, the main component of which is a tubular net, which may especially consist of double ribbed material and which may have a length of up to 400 m. This tubular net is gathered shortened in an axial direction and then put onto a flat-lying carrier by the manufacturer of the tubular net. Two pieces of identically, e.g., rectangularly, shaped cardboard lying flat on top of each other may then be used to serve as the carrier. After the gathered net is put onto the carrier, each piece of cardboard is enclosed by a closing band in a manner such that the piece of cardboard and the outer part of the tubular net are surrounded by the closing band. These closing bands are sometimes called sleeves. They usually comprise a piece of plastic foil which itself has been brought to a ring shape by connecting its two ends. It is in this fixed state, lying flat and held tight by the closing bands, that the planting net is supplied by the manufacturer to the user for the cultivation of the flower bulbs. When putting the flower bulbs into the earth, it is at first necessary to put the planting net onto a net carrier of a planting machine. One known tubular net has a circumference of approximately 1.6 m, so that the carrier has a width of 0.8 m. After the removal of the closing bands the two pieces of cardboard of the carrier are widened in an archlike fashion and the planting net is put onto the net carrier of the planting machine in this state.
The handling properties of the known planting nets are not satisfactory. In particular, it is very tedious to properly and correctly fit the planting net onto the net carrier of the planting machine. These difficulties may best be demonstrated by the fact that putting the known planting net onto the net carrier of the planting machine takes as much time as the subsequent planting of the flower bulbs using up the tubular net, even when employing skilled workers. Approximately fifty percent of the working time is therefore required for the setup of each tubular net.
Following the mounting of the tubular net, or more specifically, the planting net on the net carrier of the planting machine is the actual distribution of the flower bulbs. The flower bulbs are put into the interior of the tubular net during its delivery from the net carrier. The tubular net that has been put into the ground is then covered with soil. The plants grow from the flower bulbs through the tubular net during the subsequent growth period, also penetrating the cover of soil. At the end of the growth period during the harvest of the flower bulbs, the cover of soil is removed first and then the tubular net with the flower bulbs contained therein is pulled from the ground and taken up by a drivable harvesting machine.
During this step, the tubular net is slit open parallel to the direction of its axis, and the flower bulbs are removed from the now accessible interior of the tubular net, cleaned, and deposited into containers. The further steps of sorting, packaging, and delivery of the flower bulbs to the user are well known in the art and will not be described in greater detail.
Another known prior art planting net also uses a carrier comprising two parallel pieces of cardboard that are not connected to each other. Two pieces of string are provided to form one closing band.
The handling of this planting net is relatively even more difficult than that of the above-described net, since the tubular net bulges between the strings, thereby complicating the mounting of the tubular net onto the net carrier of the planting machine even further.
Planting nets that do without carriers altogether and which are merely provided with two sleeves or closing bands to keep the tubular net gathered in the way described above are also known.
Since the known planting nets only have a width of approximately 0.8 m, intermediate strips, in which no flower bulbs grow, are created between the strips of the nets laid in the ground, thereby limiting the efficiency of this form of cultivation. The use of wider planting nets could improve efficiency, but the net handling, especially the mounting onto the net carrier of the planting machine, would be even less satisfactory.